Softball | State notes: Elk Grove, Goranson go down swinging

EAST PEORIA, Ill, — Elk Grove senior Dani Goranson stood at the plate Saturday with a chance to cap a memorable high school career.

The bases were loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning of the Class 4A third-place game at EastSide Centre. Her team trailed Moline 4-2.

"It was an all-or-nothing at-bat for me," Goranson said. "It was going to be my last at-bat of my high school for me. I just wanted to put the ball on the bat."

She did, but came up with nothing when Moline shortstop Brittny Drish made a game-saving dive to her left and flipped the ball to second to secure the victory.

Alaina Hofmann (18-4) survived the threat to give the Maroons a third-place trophy to go with last year's state championship hardware. Goranson (2-for-5) surrendered 12 hits in eight innings to finish with a 25-9 record. Moline (31-11) scored two runs in the top of the seventh and tacked on two in the eighth.

Elk Grove finished 31-10.

Getting over the hump: Glenbard South coach Julie Fonda called Friday's 11-1 victory against Mattoon in a Class 3A state semifinal a signature win.

The Raiders had not advanced past the semifinals despite making three appearances since 2008. Fonda had no problems recalling the heart-breaking losses: Mattoon in 2008; Chatham Glenwood in 2009; LaSalle-Peru in 2011.

"(Friday) was huge," Fonda said after Saturday's 2-1 Class 3A championship victory over Marengo. "The curse is over. That gave us so much momentum coming into (Saturday). It made them believe."

Hit machine: Marengo senior Reed Karsten, who helped her team to a second-place finish in 3A this season after winning the title last season, had at least one hit in 41 of Marengo's 42 games. The Winona State recruit failed to get a hit against Sterling in a sectional final.

"It's been such a great run for us," Karsten said. "We won a title and finished second. That's huge."

Finishing third: Providence coach Jay Biesterfeld didn't let the frustration of losing to Marengo in the eighth inning of Friday's Class 3A semifinal overwhelm his players. The Celtics (29-13) capitalized on their first trip to state in school history with a 2-0 victory against Mattoon in the third-place game Saturday. Sarah Brightmore's RBI double in the third and Jessica Jatis' seventh-inning RBI groundout helped Amanda Wilson (12-9) earn the victory.

The Celtics have the ingredients to become a fixture at state in the next few years, with six juniors, four sophomores and six freshmen on the roster. Three of Providence's first four batters are underclassmen.